It is one of the simplest ideas in American education–and one of the most confounding: Elected officials and educators have been talking about establishing national, or common, academic standards for at least a half-century.

On its face, the logic of that goal seems incontrovertible.

Why should students in one state be introduced to a topic such as fractions as 1st graders, to cite a common example, when their peers in other states won’t cover that mathematics topic until later? More broadly, why does the United States–a mobile society in a globally competitive era–maintain an education system that tests students, trains teachers, and churns out textbooks and classroom materials based on the myriad and often idiosyncratic demands of different states?

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Unlike many of the standards efforts of the 1990s, the bulk of today’s “common core” process is not being led by major professional associations, but rather by groups that represent or work with state leaders–the CCSSO [Council of Chief State School Officers], the NGA [National Governors Association], and Achieve–and by college testing and placement groups, the ACT and the College Board.